Category: Hot Cocoa Bombs

10+ Days of Hot Cocoa Bombs for Christmas

12/13/2019

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Since we came up with the idea for Hot Cocoa Bombs©, Christmas just isn't Christmas without them. Last year for Christmas, I gave each of my kid's families their own Hot Cocoa Bomb© kit so that they can make their own without waiting for me to give them some Cocoa Bomb deliciousness. (You can order your own Cocoa Bomb Mold here and the Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea Book© here.)
This year, we didn't take part in a craft show where we sold Hot Cocoa Bombs and a number of people contacted me to find out why not! I felt bad about it because so many people use Hot Cocoa Bombs as gifts to teachers and neighbors. I did create a collection of bombs for a friend to give to her High School Choir class. That got me to thinking about all of the flavors that we have created and how it would be awesome to give The 12 Days of Hot Cocoa Bombs©! Here at 3 Winks, we only have 11 flavors, and I made 10 for my young friend's class. But with a little creativity on your part, I think we could easily pull out 12 days, with different decoration ideas, stir sticks and maybe a new flavor or two. So, here we go....

The 10+ Days of Hot Cocoa Bombs©!

On the first day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas my true love gave to me an Original Hot Cocoa Bomb under my tree! (click to the link of our original post).

This is one of our original pictures ever, taken by LIndsey. It is still one of my favorites. We add sprinkles now, but these look so good!

On the the next 3 days of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, he gave me some spice! Pumpkin Pie, Cinnamon and Gingerbread really are nice! (If you go to our Hot Cocoa Bomb menu option, you will see that every year the decorations on the bombs change!)

On the 5th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, he gave me something to help me sing! A Hot Cocoa Bomb© with a peppermint zing!

On the 6th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, I got something salty and sweet! A salted Caramel cocoa bomb to sip, not to eat! (Here is an opportunity to enlarge this gift with whipped cream and salted caramel syrup!)

Only 1 snowflake marshmallow will fit inside a Hot Cocoa Bomb, so giving a baggie with extras is always nice.

On the 7th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, I knew he loved me like "no udder," when he gave me a bomb made with peanut butter!

This year, Reese's Pieces Polka Dots!

On the 8th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas my love put in my mug to steam, a bomb made of Cookies and Cream! (This is a new flavor this year! And, the mug is an obvious gift to go with a Hot Cocoa Bomb©.)

Cookie crumbs on top of the bomb, but notice the mini Oreo button on the bottom. I did some in white chocolate and some in dark chocolate. The other bombs are the salted caramel with a caramel M&M on the bottom. Oh! And one lonely Pumpkin Pie Spice in this tray.

You may have figured out that my true love is worth his salt! He gave me a Hot Cocoa Bomb with chocolate malt! (Another new flavor!)

YUM!

On the 10th Day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas, my true love passed the test when he gave be a Cherry Cordial Bomb, it's the BEST!

On the bonus 11th day of Cocoa Bomb Christmas I couldn't let my true love forget the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cocoa Bomb with a video yet! (The video shows you how to make them!)

If you want to extend to 12 days, here are some ideas to stretch your gift out farther!

Create a new flavor of your own! We are thinking of a chocolate orange flavor, for example.
Give a bundle of stir sticks and a mug as the 12th gift!
How about some coasters to set their mugs on? Or even an electric coaster to keep the cocoa warm!

I make these with leftover chocolate from making the bombs and use a coffee stirrer as the stick. You could also use a sucker stick or Popsicle stick and whatever mold you would like.

Give lots of extra toppings! After everyone watches the bubbling and the marshmallows pop up and they are finished stirring, then add whipped cream, extra marshmallows, sprinkles...the ideas are endless!
Cookies to dip into the Hot Cocoa would be a welcome way to round out your gift! (I'll have to suggest that to my true love for next year!)
If you want a more elaborate gift, a Cocoa Motion is great to use to heat the milk for multiple Hot Cocoa Bombs. My son and DIL gave me one the Christmas after we invented Hot Cocoa Bombs and I love it! It makes the milk frothy which adds to the festive nature of the drink!

Now, all you have to do is wrap them up (or not, but I do and I use these bags), create your own label and present them in a box, or on a tray (another gift!) or on a pear tree! Oh! I just thought of that! They could hang like little ornaments!

I would love to see pictures and ideas of your Hot Cocoa Bombs© and how you decorate and present them! Trust me, they are going to be a gift that people will want year after year!

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How To Make Hot Cocoa Bombs the 3 Winks Way

12/3/2019

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This is the first year in many years that we haven't participated in a craft show and sold our beloved Hot Cocoa Bombs. So many of our past customers have contacted me wanting to know where we are! Many are discovering our Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea booklet on Etsy. So, I thought today I would re-post our original tutorial that shows how to make the best and most entertaining Hot Cocoa ever!

The time has come! I am going to introduce the method we use to make our Hot Cocoa Bombs with all of their chocolaty goodness and hidden surprises! Believe me, it took a lot of trial and error to get them to come out the way we imagined them. Today, I am going to start you out with the basic Chocolate Marshmallow Bomb. After that, the flavors and decorating ideas are endless.
To begin, here are the tools and supplies I use:
Wilton Brownie Pop Molds (Easy to order through Amazon!) Here is the kind I am using, and here is a Halloween one! You can sometimes find Christmas ones as well!
One double boiler
One soup sized spoon
One teaspoon
One rubber spatula
1 bag of chocolate chips per tray (I use whatever is on sale.)
Nesquik
Marshmallows
Candy Melts and sprinkles to decorate

You actually need two bags of chips to do two trays of bombs.

Instructions:
Begin by using a double boiler to melt the chocolate chips over hot water. That is the best way to melt the chocolate to a creamy consistency and to avoid burning it. (Don't let the water run out in the bottom, or you will burn it.) If you temper the chocolate correctly, it will make the chocolate shine when it cools.

* I want to note here that you may be tempted to try to melt flavored chips to make the shell of your bombs. My experience has been that the cinnamon, mint and other flavored chips do not harden as well to make a firm shell. If you want to use those flavors in your cocoa, you may use them inside the shell as I will show you in future tutorials.
So, melt the chips until they are smooth and silky chocolate!

After the Chocolate has melted nicely, use the soup spoon filled as pictured below to put chocolate into the cavity of the mold.

I know, I am kind of messy.

After filling all of the molds, use the teaspoon to swirl the chocolate around to form the shells.

Next, I put them in the freezer to harden for at least 20 min. (Usually I get busy and forget to get them out to finish hours later, but either way works). Anyway, after they are hardened, take them out of the freezer. The next step is very important if you do not want to break most of your shells. After a lot of broken bombs and frustration, we discovered this method. Pop the shells out of the mold like this: FIRST-stretch the mold a little bit around the shells. SECOND-flip the mold over and push them out from the bottom onto a towel or waxed paper. THIRD-pop them back into the molds. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FILL THEM BEFORE POPPING THEM OUT THE FIRST TIME. THIS WILL ONLY FRUSTRATE YOUR LIFE!

Stretch the mold gently.

Push them out, gently.

Oops, this one has a little hole. That is okay, just patch it up with a quick dot of chocolate from the chocolate that is left over for the tops. If you aren't quick the hot chocolate will just melt the hole bigger, so it takes a quick touch and pop it back into the mold.

Now, it is time to fill them! One of the best things about these Hot Cocoa Bombs is that the marshmallows pop up from them when it is time to melt and drink your bomb! So, the first thing we do is pack them with 5 or 6 mini marshmallows. Then, we put about a tsp and a half of Nesquick in with the marshmallows. We have used the store brand of chocolate milk mix, but we have discovered that the Nestle brand, Nesquik, really does dissolve more smoothly.

Finally, we top them with a last layer of melted chocolate!

Use just a teaspoon full of the chocolate. Slide it on top with the spatula and then use the spoon to tap it out to the edges to cover the entire top with chocolate, sealing it to the edges.

Back in the freezer they go for another 20 minutes or more. Then you pop them out and the decorating begins!

I kept these simple using a little white topping. The candy melts harden quickly on the frozen cocoa bombs.

Time to taste them! Make some nice, hot milk. I love real cocoa made in milk rather than the water kind. Don't you? Fill your mug about 3/4 full of the hot milk, drop in your Hot Cocoa Bomb, and stir! You will love it!

Up pops the mallows! Yum!

* Since we first came up with the Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea, we have developed many flavors and ideas as we have progressed! We have a Hot Cocoa Bomb Recipe and Idea book available for purchase here!

If you would like to watch a video that shows how to make Hot Cocoa Bombs, go here to our YouTube Channel and watch! Be sure to follow us there and here as well. Thanks!

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Friday Faves #34, Now Fun Friday! "Welcome Fall" Free Printable!

9/13/2019

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This post contains affiliate links and we will be compensated for purchases made through our links. Thank you for your support!

Lindsey took this photo in France!

I wrote this post almost 2 years ago, just before my little granddaughter Sofia was born! Since the Autumnal Equinox is on Monday, I thought I would share it again for Fun Friday this week! There are lots of links that you can follow to past craft posts and past recipes. I will link to a few other ones below. I hope you enjoy the memories!

Hello from California! I am with Alicia waiting for her new baby girl to be born! Since today is the first day of Fall, we are all working together on our Friday Fave post for our favorite season. I know that some people feel like Fall is the favorite holiday of too many people, so they want to be different. Or, maybe they don't like pumpkin or pumpkin pie spice. But, around here at 3 Winks, we love the fall for so many reasons. So, today's Friday Fave question is perfect for us:

What is your favorite thing about Fall?

     It was funny because when I asked my girls this question, Alicia and Lindsey each gave me an almost identical response. They both said that in the Fall there are a lot of things to celebrate and reasons to get together with family. We have an extra abundance of reasons to get together in our family because all 3 of my daughters and one of my daughters-in-law have birthdays in October. Then, there is Halloween, Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving. As Lindsey put it, Fall signifies the start of the holiday season! You bake yummy food and spend more time with family. In many places, not necessarily in Phoenix, the world changes color and the air is crisp and wonderful! You get to start wearing scarves and gloves.
     I was surprised that the first thing that Lindsey mentioned wasn't pumpkins! If you read Renny's Recipes, you know of her love of all things pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. It was heart warming to see that she and Alicia thought of family first! But, Lindsey did mention that in the Fall she can eat pumpkin things without being judged!
     Maddy also surprised me. I thought that she would mention Halloween first since she loves Halloween. That isn't surprising because her whole childhood she had Halloween themed birthday parties. But, actually the first thing she said that she loves about the season is making Fall crafts. You can see examples of her crafts here and here!

Here is what I love about Fall.

The weather starts to cool off so there are so many things you feel like doing that you couldn't do all summer, like take walks and bake!
I also love all of the reasons to get together with family and friends!
Just like Maddy, I love the fun fall crafts that make everywhere look like a magical place! Here are some crafts for this season that we have done in the past, here, here and here.
You get to start eating so many good comfort foods that you don't eat in the summer because it is too hot, like soup, apple cider or Hot Cocoa Bombs! (Speaking of Hot Cocoa Bombs, be sure to snag the free booklet on our printables page while you can, because soon it will not be free anymore! More developments are coming!)

Don't forget to order your molds for Hot Cocoa Bombs here! They are on sale for a good price right now!

Some Halloween Cocoa Bombs!

Because we love Fall so much, we decided to make a print to celebrate the season and share it with you, our readers! We collected all of the things that we love about the Fall and put them into one beautiful reminder created by Alicia! We hope that you love it!